Everywhere I Go
by alienyouthct
Summary: Five mutants in a crowd of a hundred thousand attendees at a comic book convention. Nobody will notice… right?
1. Chapter 1

Title: _Everywhere I Go  
><em>Author: JoeHundredaire  
><span>Rating:<span> R/FR18  
><span>Disclaimer:<span> With a myriad of writers, artists, and editors, actual rights are a nightmare when you go near a comic book universe. Suffice it to say that Marvel Entertainment LLC owns all of the property printed in their comics, along with the television and movie adaptations of said same property. Not mine, don't sue, and so forth and so on. On the other hand? Madison Pym and Aberration, on the other hand, are in fact mine. Please ask before touching them. Kat and Mairi are real people. If you find them interesting enough, you should probably ask me too but don't expect them to say yes to a stranger writing about them.  
><span>Dedications &amp; Thanks:<span> To Lexi Kimble, for letting me wander into her universe and providing the art. To select included cosplayers, for allowing me to borrow their personalities, cosplay designs, and likenesses for certain scenes. And to Kat for not only being one of the aforementioned cosplayers, but for being willing to read through this as a beta even though parts made her blush as red as a Coke can. Also to Nicholas and Jess for sponsoring me on Patreon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.  
><span>Summary:<span> Five mutants in a crowd of a hundred thousand attendees at a comic book convention. Nobody will notice… right?  
><span>Joe's Note:<span> I've been helping Lexi shape the origins of a Marvel universe that largely ignores the standards placed on comics by popular society. People hook up and break up because of their feelings, not because of plot necessity. Sex isn't just for procreation, or to feed one of the aforementioned plot lines. Unconventional relationships and people with unconventional tastes exist as well, and what they choose to do behind closed doors doesn't make them strange or weird or evil. In other words… real life. Just with superpowers and spandex.

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><p>"-don't even know where to start. Wait. Yes I do. First of all, Rogue's costumes sometimes feature a secondary color along with the green as a primary, but white isn't one of them. Yellow… black… a lighter green… not white. Secondly, her primary power set is tactile energy absorption. That's why she doesn't show any skin. So she wouldn't be wearing a short-sleeved anything, or a skirt without tights to fill the gap between the hem line and her boots. Fucking fake geek girls, I swear to God. Can't even be bothered to wiki the people they're dressing up as. And what are you smirking at? I don't even know who the hell you're trying to be. Shoulda gone as Gambit, though, if you've got a Rogue-loving girlfriend who hangs all over you. All the paparazzi photos show that they're a couple."<p>

The photographer whirled and swiped his badge over the scanner in front of him, muttering something decidedly unpleasant under his breath as he beckoned for his assistant to follow him through the check-in area. As they disappeared into the milling crowd on the other side of the bottleneck created by the process, Rogue slowly turned and looked at Joshua Foley with wide eyes. "What… what the hell was that?"

Chuckling, Josh unwound his arm from around Rogue's waist long enough to pass through check-in himself, meeting up with her on the other side and steering her toward the glass doors at the front of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The rest of Amazon Squad fell in behind them, or rather the Amazons who were present. Megan had stayed behind in Westchester because her family was visiting for the weekend, while Maki was still back at the hotel relaxing. And not having a pass, on account of not kicking in her share of the money on time. "Seemed pretty straightforward to me. While there are real superheroes here this weekend for the convention, you're clearly not the real Rogue. Who's evidently dating Gambit right now."

"Except I'm not, obviously, because…" Trailing off, Rogue looked around nervously before gesturing back and forth between the two of them. Why she felt the need to do so, Josh had no idea; the possessive arm around her waist made it more than clear who she was here with. "I mean yeah, we've been on the same teams since then, but I haven't dated Remy since… when was the _Columbia_ disaster?"

Josh pulled out his phone, googling the event in question. "…back in 2003. I was six and you were sixteen. Which would put you back in your Brotherhood days, wouldn't it?" Rogue stuck her tongue out in response, a moment of childishness that was becoming more common as she spent more and more of her free time with her squad. "I get what you meant, though. But since it's evidently helping us blend into the crowd better, do we really want to complain that people would be looking for a 'real' you to be with our least favorite Cajun?"

Personally, Josh was more than a little surprised at the overall lack of attention they'd received to this point. While obviously Aberration cut an imposing figure and he stood out for equally obvious reasons, they'd gotten nothing beyond a few longer than average glances. Rogue had received even less attention, or rather Rogue as an individual had. Her spectacular cleavage had earned her looks ranging from hungry to appreciative to jealous, but despite the fact that she - as the photographer had pointed out - had a Wikipedia page that contained a number of clear pictures of her? Evidently nobody had managed to connect the face that went with the spectacular cleavage with the face plastered across the Internet. Or if they had, they'd opted not to say anything. He was more than a little tempted to order Rogue to brush up against one of his squadmates and 'borrow' her telepathy for a few minutes, but if nobody was willing to step forward and voice their suspicions… did it really matter if they had them?

Before he could ponder that further, the peanut gallery decided to intrude upon their conversation. "Rachel's self-heating and I think the rest of you could probably survive on Hoth, but I've got cold raindrops falling into my cleavage." Sidling up on Josh's left, Madison Pym shivered as she shot a scowl up at him. "Is there any chance we can finish this conversation inside?"

Taking advantage of their sizable height difference, Josh took a peek down the front of Madison's corset. While she wasn't in Aberration's league - much less Rogue's - she had a damn nice pair in her own right. "They look pretty dry from here. But if you're really worried, I could always cover them up for you…" Madison retaliated by kicking him in the calf, making Josh wince even as his powers instinctively kicked in to repair the minute amount of damage she'd done. "Ouch. See if I'm ever nice to you again. Seriously, though, we're going to be here for three days. You saw the same weather forecast as the rest of us. Why didn't you pick another outfit?"

"Because it's going to be shitty all three days of con?" Madison glanced upward at the grey sky before looking down at her outfit, first at the front before craning her neck so she could peer back over her shoulder. "And because these shorts make my ass look amazing?"

Neither of those were things Josh could debate. The former because he too had caught the weather report that morning before leaving the hotel. The latter because… well, dat ass. The exposed bottom curves of which were starting to look decidedly goose pimply. Maybe it was time to head inside. Before they could reach the front doors of the convention center, though, they were intercepted by a pack of girls led by a statuesque brunette in a red and gold corset and a skirt made of armor plates, accessorized with what appeared to be several pieces of feminized Iron Man armor. Her eyes swept back and forth along the group before fixing on Aberration. "Um, hi. This is a little awkward because… well, I'm not sure if you're supposed to be a casual She-Hulk or a casual Rule 63 Hulk or what. But you look really cool. And pretty. Will you take a picture with me?"

Josh joined the others in looking toward Aberration in surprise. Why would anyone think a girl wearing a simple purple dress was cospl… oh. He sighed before reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Having gold skin gave you a slightly skewed perspective of 'normal', evidently. Because even though he knew intellectually that Aberration's scaly green form wasn't normal, strictly speaking, the constant exposure had turned it into nothing extraordinary from his perspective. For the average flatscan, on the other hand? She probably did look like some kind of amazingly complex makeup job. Who they couldn't identify. Noticing her darkening cheeks, Josh opened his mouth to intercede on her behalf but was cut off as Aberration decided to speak for herself. "I guess you can take a picture, but… this is just me being me. I'm a mutant. I wear this dress all the time. It's not cosplay."

Fear, suspicion, resignation… these were all reactions to mutants that Josh had experienced. Having a girl's eyes widen before squealing loudly was definitely new. "That… is… awesome! I was pretty sure that you and at least two of your friends were, but my friends talked me out of it because you guys are what, seven percent of the population? Something like that? So theoretically there are going to be seven thousand mutants here this weekend at the con, but what are the odds of us actually meeting one?"

"One in fourteen, give or take." Aberration reached up to rub the back of her head as she eyed the girl disbelievingly. "You're taking this really well. Almost to the point of creeping me out, to be honest. I'm used to people being scared of me because… well… look at me."

The girl giggled at that as she pried one of Aberration's hands away from her chest long enough to shake it. "Pfft. You should see what some of my friends look like by the ride home after a convention. I'm Kat, by the way. What's your… do you have a superhero name or use your regular name or what? Because I know there's like, Magneto. But then there's also Emma Frost."

"Aberration."

"…I'm guessing you're one of the former then. I can't see you being like, Aberration Smith or Aberration Jones or something." As she pulled the taller, greener girl away from the rest of the Xavier's contingent, Kat reached behind her back and pulled a phone out of… somewhere. Spinning around, she pressed her back against Aberration's chest as she stretched the phone out in front of her. A few seconds later, Kat lowered it and turned to face Aberration again. "So, not sure if you've noticed but we've got a bit of a Rule 63 Avengers thing going. Even if you weren't trying to cosplay… you'd make an awesome kinda sorta girl Hulk for us. Wanna?" Aberration bit her lip nervously at the offer, shifting from foot to foot as Kat and her companions stared at the taller girl expectantly. "Most of us don't know actually each other; we met on the Facebook Group for the con after I posted looking to see if anyone would want to join me and the friend I was coming with. So you won't be the odd one out in a group of good friends or anything."

With the ignorant members of the squad absent, Aberration turned to Josh rather than Rogue for permission. Strangely, though, it wasn't a really cut and dried matter. On one hand, every member of Kat's group was delicious eye candy, and so Josh was tempted to ask if they wanted to join the Amazons for the day instead. Given that they had similar taste in women, he doubted Rogue would object to the presence sexy pin-up versions of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Hawkeye. And… Josh blinked as another figure cut through the crowd, joining up with Kat's pack of Girlvengers. They had a… Miss Captain Marvel? The blonde had taken the motif from Carol Danvers's current jumpsuit and applied it to something closer to the woman's old leotard. Strange. Shaking his head, he refocused on the matter at hand: Aberration's day plans. Because while he would enjoy having all those pretty girls to ogle, he recognized that Aberration really did need the practice socializing with strangers, especially flatscans. Not to mention that a combined group of ten would make navigating a bustling convention a bit unwieldy, especially compared to a group of four or five…

But in the end, Aberration was a big girl. Pun completely intended. He could make these sorts of decisions for her, but Aberration wasn't Rogue and so that really wasn't Josh's place. And so shrugging, he made a gentle shooing motion. "If you want to go with them, you can. We're all going the same place, and you're six foot three and green. I'm sure we'll be able to find you when it's time to leave."

Smiling faintly, Aberration patted at her purse as she took a hesitant step forward. "Okay. And I've got my phone if you guys need me for something." Josh nodded before shooing her more insistently, making Aberration chuckle as Kat led her off to parts unknown, the rest of the Girlvengers forming up around them. "So, she's Kat. I'm Aberration. Who are the rest of you?"

"Audra."

"Jess."

The rest of the introductions were lost to the noisy crowd as the group moved off. Josh watched them go for a few seconds longer before turning to Rogue. "Huh. I did not see that one coming."

"Said the blind porn star." Madison pulled away from Josh's side as she took several quick steps forward before pausing, huffing, and turning around to face him. "What am I, chopped liver? That Kat girl likes mutants. The giant yellow antennae make it hard to ignore that I'm a mutant. She likes cosplayers. I'm a cosplayer. I am a cosplaying mutant. She should be like, down on her knees worshipping me or something. Especially since I'm pretty sure I'm the only Julia Carpenter cosplayer at this entire convention."

Fingertips ghosted along Josh's forearm as the group's last, hitherto silent member took advantage of Madison's absence to steal the open spot at Josh's left, and then Rachel Grey-Frost decided to add her two cents. "You should never expect a girl to get down on her knees before at least the third date, Madison. Unless it's my step-sister. Or Nori. They're both fast. In more ways than the obvious in Nori's case."

Madison rolled her eyes before flipping the redhead off. "Funny, Red. And don't make fun of Mara. Someone's gotta make up for you being slower than my namesake during rush hour. Cuz for all you've watched the rest of us do it, last time I'd checked? You hadn't even kissed a boy yet. Or a girl, for that matter."

"I'm guessing it'll be a girl eventually, what with me being the test tube baby of two lesbians and all. Considering where your mouth was an hour ago, though? I'm pretty sure it won't be you." Rachel chuckled as Madison offered the middle finger of each hand in response to that barb, although Josh wouldn't have been as quick to laugh in her place. Or criticize. After all, Rachel hadn't seemed to mind Madison's 'breakfast of champions' when she was linking minds with the other girl and rubbing herself off in the shower.

He hadn't exactly been complaining about the situation either…

Looping his free arm around Rachel's waist, Josh tuned out the pair's bickering as he coaxed his companions into resuming their forward motion. As they entered the Javits proper, he spotted a familiar green and white sign in this distance and his grip on Rachel's waist tightened. Despite experiencing firsthand the havoc that highly caffeinated beverages could wreak on her control of her powers, Rachel generally found it hard to resist the siren song of the frappuccino. The last thing Josh wanted was to spend his entire day chasing a sugar-high psi around a busy convention center.

Josh gave Rogue's waist a squeeze just so she wouldn't feel left out, slowly scanning the main concourse even as they continued forward to keep from clogging up on of the entrances. An escalator marked '3A' was directly in front of them, leading the way up to the show floor, and he debated steering the girls in its direction. While they technically didn't have to be anywhere in particular for several hours, he had a feeling that they'd get lost perusing the myriad vendors' wares and so getting an early start on that could be a good thing. The walkway off to the right that led to Artist's Alley was a viable first stop for them for similar reasons. Not to mention that the first floor areas were packed full of… he wasn't quite sure, but the program claimed there was a whole bunch of stuff going on down there. But he could also see a sign with an arrow that pointed left toward the Crystal Palace, which was tempting in its own way given that cosplayers tended to congregate there to take advantage of the natural light for photos. Rachel would probably prefer the former. Madison, the latter. Rogue, either. Which left him as the tiebreaking vo- "Excuse me?"

Removing his arms from around his companions' waists, Josh turned and then froze as he found himself faced with a most peculiar sight. While plenty of people liked to cosplay as his professors - although he would never get used to seeing versions of either Headmistress Frost-Grey hanging on a Scott Summers, or anyone getting up close and personal with Professor Howlett for that matter - very few people tended to dress as Professor Lehnsherr. Fewer still chose to use her older Scarlet Witch identity from her time with the Brotherhood of Mutants. And yet here he was, staring at someone who not only had done so, but who had opted to reimagine it with a decidedly steampunk vibe. "Yes?"

"If you're not busy, I was hoping I could get a picture with your friend in the Rogue costume. Since we're both cosplaying as teachers from Xavier's and all. Sorta." The girl paused and looked around before letting out a huff. "Except now things are all awkward because my boyfriend just ran off to God knows where and he has the camera. Damn it, Matt. You had one job…" After shifting from foot to foot uncertainly for several seconds, she reached up and slid her fingers into her cavernous cleavage, pulling out an iPhone in a case as red as her wardrobe. "Um… make that a selfie together?"

Having turned at the sound of her name, Rogue let out a soft snort at that even as her eyes wandered over the girl. "Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron? I mean, is it still technically a 'selfie' when you're taking it with another person?" The cosplayer thought about that for a moment before shrugging in response. "I guess. Got a name, or should I just call you Wanda?"

"Mairi. You?"

"Rogue."

"Huh. Kay. And I thought my parents had interesting taste in names. So, is it just a strange coincidence?" Her phone grasped tightly in her left hand, Mairi stretched her arm out in front of her and then moved it a bit to one side as she stared at the screen, before looking up and beckoning for Rogue to approach her on the right. "Or did you pick her to cosplay specifically because you have the same name?"

Josh bit his lip to avoid laughing at the look Rogue shot him, even as Rachel and Madison gave in to temptation and giggled behind them. "Something like that, sugar." It took Rogue a few tries to actually wrap her arm around Mairi's waist and settle in against her side, which was understandable. After all, the last time that she'd been out in public and been able to safely touch people was… well, before the _Columbia_ disaster to throw her own joke back at her. It would probably take her a while to adjust to it, but if she decided she enjoyed it? He might be persuaded to use his powers to neutralize hers again if she was… properly appreciative. After a few minutes filled with soft chatter lost to the general noise of the convention center and more than just 'a' selfie, the pair finally broke apart. "So, are you going to be posting these somewhere or do you just like having pictures of yourself in costume?"

After poking at her phone for a few more seconds, Mairi looked up and nodded. "I do! I have a Facebook Page, and an Instagram account, and I just got a Tumblr, and…" Trailing off, she furrowed her brow before grinning sheepishly. "And I'm guessing that was less an actual question and more of a rhetorical question because I should probably get your info so I can tag you when I do post them, huh?"

"Uh, actually, I was being genuinely curious about what you personally were going to do with them. This is the first convention I've ever been to and so this…" Trailing off for a moment, Rogue gestured from herself to Mairi and back. "Is all new to me. And I have an Instagram-" She blushed faintly at that, probably because of some of the - exceedingly unprofessional - pictures Josh had talked her into posting on it. "-but not the rest of that stuff. I can give that to you if you want, though, so you can tag me?"

Eyes widening, Mairi stared at Rogue in disbelief. "You're… I figured you were a professional cosplayer or a booth babe or something. I mean, you're really pretty and your costume is amazing and-"

As much fun as it was to stand there and see who could turn redder - Mairi in embarrassment or Rogue at the compliments - Josh could hear Madison muttering under her breath at being overlooked yet again, and doubted it was any more fun for Rachel to stand there watching someone gush over their teacher. And while Mairi was definitely the kind of girl that would catch his eye - and she would be a welcome addition to the fun he was planning for this evening - the mention of a boyfriend present at the convention presented an obstacle he didn't really feel like dealing with. Time to move on, he decided. "Nope. She's just a girl out for a day of fun with her boyfriend and her friends. Speaking of which… would you mind terribly if we got on with that?" Mairi nodded and then opened her mouth, only to have Josh cut her off. "X Southern X Comfort X. No spaces, obviously."

Thankfully, Mairi proved to be more socially adept than some of the people they'd run into so far and recognized the dismissal. "Okay. Nice meeting you!" Curtsying, Mairi spun and hurried off into the crowd, fiddling with her phone as she went. Josh could tell the moment that her cell phone managed to fight its way through all the other traffic in the convention center and pull down Rogue's profile; just as he turned away to lead the girls off, a loud exclamation could be heard over the almost mind-blowing noise of the crowd. "Oh my God!"


	2. Chapter 2

Joe's Note: I decided to split what would have other been a titanic first chapter into two pieces, the first of which covered our protagonists' arrival, an introduction to a group of side characters that will feature more in the future, and a bit of fun with Rogue. The second half takes things in a decidedly different direction, dealing with Madison and… well, read on and find out.  
><span>Dedications &amp; Thanks:<span> To Nicholas, Jess, and Jessica for sponsoring me on Patreon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

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><p>Thankfully, Mairi proved to be more socially adept than some of the people they'd run into so far and recognized the dismissal. "Okay. Nice meeting you!" Curtsying, Mairi spun and hurried off into the crowd, fiddling with her phone as she went. Josh could tell the moment that her cell phone managed to fight its way through all the other traffic in the convention center and pull down Rogue's profile; just as he turned away to lead the girls off, a loud exclamation could be heard over the almost mind-blowing noise of the crowd. "Oh my God!"<p>

"Well, I was hoping she'd find out I was here by finding me on someone else's Instagram some time next week, but since that doesn't seem like it's going to be happening… guess we might as well head up to Booth 1354 so I can see her in person." Sending one last glare in the general direction in which Mairi had departed, Madison turned with a huff and flickered as her body shed a foot or so in height, her wings extending from the expanse of bare back visible above her black corset. Throwing herself forward, Madison buzzed her way across the gap between where they were standing and the upward escalator, returning to her full height as her boots hit the first moving stair.

While he wasn't a telepath, Josh had spent enough time around a few of them to know how to start a conversation with one. And so even as he grabbed Rogue's hand and interlaced their fingers, pulling her in pursuit of Madison, he 'thought loudly'. _'Rachel? Since neither of us grabbed one and you did… Booth 1354?'_

Rachel winced and stumbled a step before regaining her equilibrium and shooting him a glare. _'Think loudly for a non-psi, Josh, not like you're trying to contact me from New Jersey. Christ.'_ As she walked along next to them, one hand dipped into her messenger bag and emerged with a program guide. Stepping onto the escalator just in front of them, she flipped through the pages before finding a map. _'Kay, those are the 1300s… 1325… oh. 1354. The one that's the size of thirty-five normal booths, give or take a booth. The vanDynesty booth.'_

That… was unexpected. Josh shot a look over at Rogue; while she'd met their supplier of all things shiny and fashionable in the past, Josh had yet to have that pleasure. Janet van Dyne had seemed nice enough in the emails they exchanged, but tone was a remarkably hard thing to gauge in a text-based environment and even harder in static emails than real-time SMS conversations or Facebook chats. He shot another glance over at Rogue before shrugging. Evidently their first face-to-face was about to occur whether he liked it or not. At least Rogue was wearing one of the dresses he'd had her order from Janet, rather than one of her off the shelf outfits. That would make for a better first impression… right? Although he was a bit curious as to why Madison was so intent on seeing her mother, given how badly they normally got along.

When they reached the top of the escalator, Madison was already on the move but a glowing arrow hovering over her head made her easy enough to follow through the bustling crowd. Josh shot Rachel a grateful smile; given that nobody else was reacting to the flashing pink arrow hovering over Madison, he was reasonably certain of its origin. They followed their teammate forward until they hit a major aisle before turning left and making their way almost two-thirds down the massive hall's length. Their destination was hard to miss: not only was it massive, but it was teeming with customers. It wasn't, however, busy enough to keep one of the workers from noticing who was bearing down on them. "Mom! Look who's here!"

Holding up her hand to forestall any further conversation, Janet turned away from the customer she'd been dealing with and opened her mouth to shout back across the booth, only to pause as she caught sight of who had arrived. Flagging down another of her workers, Janet passed the customer off to them before making her way over to where Josh, Rogue, and Rachel were just finally catching up with Madison. One eyebrow slowly slid upward, and then she snorted derisively. "You passed up my offer to earn some extra spending money by working this weekend, bought your own pass instead, and then showed up looking like another bug woman? Really? Are you that desperate to convince me forget your birthday this year or something?" Shaking her head, Janet turned to her left, where the girl who'd called out to her was waiting. "Nezzie, go dig out one of the Rita-themed dresses in your sister's size." As the young blonde hustled off to do her mother's bidding, Janet looked Madison up and down slowly before sighing. "Couldn't you at least dress up as Jess? I like her."

"Why do you think I picked Julia? Dressing up as someone your own mother's had sex with is… awkward? Nasty? Both?" Madison shuddered before doing her best to change the subject. "Mom, this is… wait, you already known Rogue. And Josh. And Rachel. Well. That was a waste of a perfectly good introduction, wasn't it?"

"A bit. We'll add social graces to that extensive list of things that you need to work on." Janet's eyes slid to Madison's right, where Rachel had sidled up next to her smaller friend. "How have you been, dear? I haven't seen you in months… but neither has the public, so at least I'm not going to have to scold you for cheating on me with another designer. What have you been up to?"

Rachel chuckled softly in reply. "So you're fine with my mom and mother buying almost half of their stuff from other designers, but I'd be cheating on you?"

Before Janet could reply, Venezia Pym returned with a dress in each hand, as well as proof that she had very good ears. "It's a fashion faux pas to be exclusive to any one designer. Unless you're not dressing up that often, like you, and then nobody notices." The black and yellow dress in her right hand was offered to - or rather forced upon - Madison, who rolled her eyes before stomping off in the direction of one of the booth's changing rooms. Then she held out her left arm in Rachel's direction, handing over a noticeably shorter white and silver affair. "If Mom doesn't think that you deserve something on the house after all the stuff your parents have paid for, she can take it out of my allowance. It'll look really pretty on you no matter what, but you might want to lighten your hair a bit. It's White Queen-based, not White Phoenix."

Rachel took the dress and gave Venezia a quick hug, making the younger girl grin widely, before finally offering Janet an answer to her question. "Surprised you haven't heard; it's been all over the news since the first charity dinner that Mother brought them to. I'm no longer the weirdest thing in the family. Everyone's clamoring to know more about my step-sisters, so Mom talked Mother into letting me step back out of the spotlight for a bit. You'll probably meet them soon; Mother's allowing a few flatscan designers to try and fail at dressing quintuplets properly so that she can justify turning them into vanDynesty exclusives like me." Turning to Josh and Rogue, she raised her hand and waved the dress back and forth a bit. "Gonna go change. BRB."

Her departure was quickly followed by Venezia returning to work, leaving Josh - and Rogue - to face Janet alone. Rather than give her time to ask some very good questions, though, Josh decided to start up a conversation of his own. Releasing Rogue's hand, he looped his arm around her waist instead and gave it a possessive squeeze. "We've never actually been able to meet face-to-face for a variety of reasons, but I wanted to thank you. You've done some amazing work for me. For us."

"For her, technically, at least from where I'm sitting. She's the one with the checks that keep clearing." Janet reached out, quite blatantly caressing the exposed tops of Rogue's breasts before sliding her fingers upward to brush against the pendant hanging from the collar Josh had purchased for her. "Hmm. Can't say that I'm a fan, to be honest."

Frowning, Rogue reached up with her right hand to squeeze at the pendant hanging from her collar. "I like it."

Janet just rolled her eyes in response. "Yes, and this is why I'm the fashionista while you're the hermit-slash-teacher. There's nothing wrong with letting him mark his territory, sweetie, but it's impersonal. Uninspired. This doesn't scream 'I belong to my Master' so much as 'I'm an X-Man and like collars'. But… well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers, hmm? It was either him, trying to turn the headmistresses' suite into a ménage à quatre, or trying to steal Rasputin from Pryde. Or Drake, but I don't think even you're desperate enough to go there. Well, I suppose you could have gone for that cute silver-skinned ginger I've seen in a few of Madison's pictures. Mercury, isn't it? Come to think of it, why didn't you pick her? I bet her powers would make her a blast in the sack, and she can't possibly be a worse owner than-"

Despite intellectually knowing that what he was about to do was a terrible idea, Josh couldn't help bristling at both Janet's words and the casual way she was touching what was his. Reaching out, he wrapped his fingers around Janet's wrist and pushed with his powers, igniting all the pain receptors in the area simultaneously. "I don't know who you think you are to-"

Yellow energy wreathed Janet's hand, shocking Josh hard enough to make him release her and stumble back a step. "Oh, honey… don't." When Josh narrowed his eyes at her, she let out a low chuckle. "I've given birth to a dozen children and counting. Did you really think that would make me flinch? And before you think of trying anything else, remember that not only are you being watched by countless security camera but all of my children have my powers. Even if you can heal from being put through the floor by a giant boot, I'm sure it won't feel too good."

"You still have no right to-"

"Why not? You think you're a big deal because… what? You can horde the broken toys that nobody else wants to play with? You're a child, Joshua. Compare yourself to me, the queen of a hive sits atop a multi-billion dollar empire spanning a dozen markets. Rich. Powerful. Important. Everything you wish you could be… imagine you are… but aren't. If I wanted this?" Bringing both hands up, Janet cupped Rogue's breasts and gave them a squeeze, eliciting a squeak from the southern belle. "I'd take it from you. It would be child's play for Hank and Scott to throw together a power suppression collar for her, and I'd make it look a lot nicer than the one she's wearing now. But I don't want her. Nothing personal, Rogue. My taste in women just tends to run south of the border. Not to mention that if being your better in every possible way doesn't give me the right to criticize you, and according to your headmistress it does? I'm pretty sure what you and Rogue have been doing with my daughter earns me that privilege."

"I…" Mind already reeling from the conversation's drastic deviation from the script he'd composed in his head, Josh just barely managed to keep himself from blurting out something damning. This wasn't like dealing with Rachel's mothers, he reminded himself, or Alice Worthington's. Not that he'd have anything to fear in the latter case. But… Janet wasn't a telepath. This was nothing more than her fishing for information, he decided, hoping that she'd be able to lead him into saying something incriminating. And now that he knew that? "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You use a school-owned MacBook and iPhone just like my daughter does, Joshua. Tell me… what happens once you log Messages into the same Apple ID on both? Or, say, your school laptop, your phone, and the iMac you have at home? An iMac that has a stupidly simple password 'protecting' it, might I add?" Janet's smirk slowly morphed into a vicious grin as Josh's eyes widened. "I have access to both sides of every conversation she's had since she arrived at Xavier's. I can see every picture and video she sends and receives. I. Know. Everything."

So in other words, he was well and truly fucked in the not-fun way. Because not only had he and Madison arranged their encounters via Messages - and discussed them afterward - but she'd sent him a few topless pictures that way… and one strangely arousing video of her enjoying a banana between classes. On top of that, he knew for a fact - seeing as how he'd taken them - that her phone was home to a decent number of far naughtier pictures and videos, and that the former would have automatically synced to her iMac over iCloud. And yet… this couldn't have been something Janet had discovered yesterday. If what he did with Madison - and sometimes Rogue and Madison together - actually bothered her, it would have come up far sooner. So… "And? Now what?"

Chuckling softly, Janet reached out and patted Josh's cheek condescendingly. "And now you take my daughter and go back to playing your little games, sweetie, while I go back to earning money and expanding my reach. What? I've got five husbands and a girlfriend to help me keep an eye on our dozen children. Did you really expect me of all people to throw stones? I mean, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep it away from her phone because there are certain things that even the most enlightened mothers don't need to see, but if that's a kink of hers? Then what is is, I guess. Oh, and if you ever hurt her? I'll have Hank call in one of his favors with Reed and send you on a one-way trip to the Negative Zone. I may not be Mother of the Year material, but that doesn't mean I don't care. No matter what Madison thinks."

Unable to formulate a proper response, Josh watched as Janet turned and walked away, wondering how something as simple as complimenting the woman's work had spun so wildly out of control. He was also more than a little upset that Madison hadn't been exaggerating about Janet's personality, because Josh wasn't ashamed to admit that he preferred women a bit on the thicker side and the somewhat chunky MILF had starred in more than a few dirty dreams of his. Shooting a glance over at Rogue, who seemed just as stunned by what had just happened, he opened his mouth but was prevented from asking for her thoughts by the return of a very blonde Rachel and a very grumpy-looking Madison. "I'd complain about her dressing me up as her Mini-Me, but I already know what she'd say. She hasn't been the Wasp in sixteen years now, the name and the look belong to Aunt Rita now, no time for that foolishness, gave it up for a real career, blah blah blah."

"At least you're mostly covered. This is definitely a Mother-inspired dress; I feel like my ass is about to pop out any minute." Blushing faintly, Rachel reached back and tugged at the dress's hem. "If this is something your sister thinks looks pretty on me, I should probably start worrying about her intentions."

"Probably, yeah. I mean, you are pretty much perfect wife material for me." Venezia let out a giggle as she swept back in from behind Rachel, making the blonde jump. "You're a mutant, which is a plus because I don't even want to think about how Mom would react to me 'slumming' with a norm. You're gorgeous. I don't think the world will accept younger clones as legit heirs, which means you're the Paris to your mother's Richard Hilton. And while I'm not a gold-digger strictly speaking, I'm not gonna lie: it'd be a lot easier to be a stay-at-home scientist if I had a rich wife behind me. You know, kinda like my dad and mom. Except without the polyamory." Pausing, Venezia tilted her head to one side and eyed Rachel curiously. "Unless you're into that. In which case… do you think we can get ourselves an Asgardian? And then maybe a witch? I figure if we have representatives of a bunch of different groups in the house, it'll mean that you don't get like… a few mutants ganging up on the one novii or something. Oh! We can call ourselves the Illuminaughty!"

Eyes growing wider and wider with each sentence that emerged from the blonde's mouth, Rachel eventually shook her head and held her hands up in surrender. "Okay, woah, stop. Kinda flattered, a little creeped out… because isn't dating supposed to come before marriage proposals? Oh, and talking? I think that ramble literally doubles the number of words you've said to me in the entire time we've known each other. Which has mostly consisted of you standing in the corner staring at me while my mother tells your mom what to have me wear."

Venezia bit her lip as she considered that before nodding in agreement. "Okay, that's valid criticism. In that case… wanna get some coffee when Mom lets me take a break? And then maybe dinner later tonight?"

The former had the potential to leave Rachel in a very annoying state for several hours, while the latter would interfere with both their plans for the evening and possibly some of their plans for at the con, depending on when 'later' was. Accordingly, neither option really appealed to Josh. Especially since their encounter with Janet had left him itching to 'mark his territory', as she'd put it, and Rachel would be an instrumental part of that unless he wanted to retreat all the way back to their hotel. Thankfully, she managed to pick up on that thought at a minimum, shooting him a little grin even as her cheeks flushed faintly. "Still flattered… but already spoken for. You'll be here all weekend, though, right?" Venezia nodded, and Rachel spared Josh a glance before proposing an alternative. "Sunday, then? Coffee, I'll loan my brain to the packing effort, and then dinner? As long as you think you can have me back to my group before they ship out, that is."

"I can do that!" Venezia smiled before shifting her shoulders, drawing attention to the black fins protruding from them. "Who knows, maybe I can tag along with you guys and check out Westchester for myself. I'm homeschooled, so it's not like I have to worry about missing classes on Monday. And I've got my flight suit in a bag back at the hotel, which means I am my own ride home."

Before she could continue, something cast a shadow across their group, causing Josh to look up… and up… to find a large blonde staring down at them. And with Aberration for a squadmate - and women like Emerald and Garnet present in the superhuman community - it took some doing to be 'large' in his estimation. But this girl would have easily towered over Aberration by at least two feet, clocking in at a minimum of nine feet tall. Although that wasn't the only way she would qualify as 'large', Josh realized as he let his eyes drift downward, taking a moment to admire her sizable bust before moving on to her wide hips and thick thighs. After a few seconds, Josh brought his gaze up to meet hers once more, only to raise an eyebrow as he noticed her haircut. Like Mara and Rogue, the blonde also sported an undercut but her scalp had been shaved completely bare on the sides. It was… kinda hot in a freaky way, to be honest. Since she was clearly a height multiplier, he knew she'd be off-limits for Madison-related reasons, Janet-related reasons, or quite possibly both, but… damn.

Josh was rather rudely pulled from his thoughts as the girl grabbed him by the hand, actually managing to yank him up into the air with each enthusiastic pump as she shook his hand. "Cassie Lang, Loss Prevention Specialist. Also Keeper of the Cell Phones, since Nez can't manage to stay off of Tumblr while at work." She reached down to ruffle Venezia's hair before looking over at Madison. "Speaking of cell phones, though… Nez. Hug Madi so she can't escape and gimme a pretty smile. Mom wants a picture of the two of you for the company Instagram."

Madison opened her mouth, only to let out a grunt as Venezia pounced on her from behind. Huffing, she shot a glance back over her shoulder before rolling her eyes and returning her attention to Cassie. "Do you have to call her that? She's not your mother."

"She's been more of a mother to me than Peggy, and she's my half-sisters' mother. Oh, and even more importantly? She doesn't mind that I call her Mom. Now smile…" Holding up her red and gold StarkPhone, Cassie waited for Madison to comply… and waited… and then finally shrugged and took a picture of the diminutive girl making a particularly unflattering face even as Venezia smiled brightly behind her. "Okay. I'm going to post this and then get back to work. Venezia, there are customers every-"

Josh missed the rest - although he was vaguely aware of Madison launching into a new round of family feuding with Cassie - as he took a firm grip on Rogue's right ass cheek and steered her away from the vanDynesty booth. At this point, they could keep Madison for all he cared. If not for her bizarre need for a public confrontation with her mother, Josh could have quite happily lived on under the delusion that Janet wasn't a terrible person, just someone who didn't see eye-to-eye with her eldest daughter. Besides, while he was normally a 'more the merrier' type when it came to their antics… where he was taking Rogue, a smaller party would actually be better. _'Men's room or women's?'_

_'Women's. After all, if we sneak into the men's room, I need to mask both me and Rogue. Women's room, I only need to slip you in. Besides, I just gave myself a total makeover. I need to scrub every last molecule of makeup off my face and apply something more flattering. The last thing I need is a picture of me like this ending up on the Internet and giving Mother a heart attack.'_


	3. Chapter 3

Joe's Note: I did say that Aberration's new friends would feature more in the future and… well, here they are. Not all of them were named in their first appearance, but that'll be fixed here. Some of them are based on my cosplay friends, others are not. Outside of Kat, though, I won't tell you who from this group is real - and has helped me write their appearance - and who I've created. That'd spoil my fun, after all.  
><span>Dedications &amp; Thanks:<span> To Nicholas, Jess, Jessica, and Christopher for sponsoring me on Patreon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

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><p>"Oh. Oh no. Awkward. When you said 'Avengers panel', I thought you meant you wanted to go to a panel about the Avengers. Not a panel with some of the Avengers at it."<p>

Aberration dug her heels in, coming to an abrupt stop in the panel room's doorway and in turn bringing her entire group of newfound friends to a halt as well. Which wasn't necessarily her fault; while she could understand why Kat and Audra were walking around hand-in-hand, she hadn't actually asked Kat to grab her by the wrist with her free hand. Nor would Jess have been brought to a halt if she hadn't been playing tug-of-war over a program guide with Audra, for that matter. Bethany was also Jess's fault, what with the whole 'using the blonde's hair for a leash so she didn't wander off' thing and all. And- "That's… not a better thing?" Kat looked up at Aberration, brow furrowed in confusion. "I mean, you don't think that meeting the Avengers is cooler than a bunch of random people talking about the Avengers?"

Shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably, Aberration shook her head. "Not when they've kinda… beat up my dad. I mean, I don't know exactly who's in there because I didn't check the program guide, but chances are at least one of them has punched, blasted, or otherwise assaulted my dad. He's fought a lot of Avengers. Kinda their own fault, if you think about it, since it's not like he asked them to get in between him and the Hulk, but… yeah."

After exchanging looks with other members of the group, Jess let go of both the program guide and Bethany's hair so that she could raise one hand as the other adjusted the blue bra of her Pin-Up Captain America outfit. "Yo, I'm confused. Aren't you a mutant? Since when do the Avengers fight them? I thought that was the X-Men's job. Like, they had some sort of agreement or something: the X-Men handle the crazy mutants, the Avengers handle the crazy robots and Nazis and shit, the Fantastic Four handle the crazy aliens, the Spider-Clan handles the C-list retards with ugly ass costumes…"

"Oh! I know! Pick me!" Bethany bounced up and down on her toes, waving her hand excitedly. "The Avengers fought your dad because your dad's not a mutant! He's the Abomination!"

Wow. That was quicker than she'd expected.

_'That's what she said.'_

_'…thanks, Rachel.'_

_'No problem. Oops, gotta go. Josh wants my attention for… ooh. Hehe.'_

'Hehe' indeed. Aberration almost found herself wishing that she was still with the rest of the squad… before reminding herself that not only had she and Josh decided to scale back their friendship with benefits to a something strictly platonic months ago, but she probably would have ruined their fun on account of being about as stealthy as the Rhino. And so instead she turned her attention outward, to the new group of friends who were still staring at her curiously. "I'd say 'only a little' or something stupid like that but, well, I'm not a 'little' anything." Aberration let out a mighty sigh before nodding. "Bethany's right. My real name is Emily Lioy. I usually go by Aberration because… well, to me? It's slightly less embarrassing to be known as the Abomination's daughter than as the daughter of the lunatic who fell in love with a supervillain through letters and married him."

"Question!" Raising her foam replica of Mjölnir high in the air, Nicole waved it back and forth until Aberration's gaze fell upon her. "I can totally get not wanting to be Emily, but can we at least call you Abbie? Aberration is kinda… awkward. I'm not stupid or anything, but four syllable words aren't exactly a big part of my everyday conversation." The mutant thought about it for a moment before shrugging and nodding. "Sweet. Now-"

"Ladies! I can't help but notice that there's a line forming behind you, full of people waiting to meet their favorite armored hero. Is there any chance you could take your conversation elsewhere?" From his seat at the table that occupied the front of the room she wasn't keen on entering, Tony Stark waved at Aberration and her friends before gesturing to the stack of photographs sitting in front of him. "Over here for a minute or two would be fine, if you want to get your favorite armored hero's autograph before taking things elsewhere."

As Aberration followed the others into the room, she let her eyes wander down the length of the table. Captain America… Iron Man… Falcon… Emerald… Garnet… Ant-Man… Sif… Captain Marvel… Heartbreaker. Six of the nine were heroes that Aberration could confirm had fought her father at one point or another, and a further two were in the 'likely even if the details weren't coming to her' category. So woo. They were batting one-eleven on the afternoon. Fabulous. But before Aberration could figure out how to extricate herself from the situation - possibly after securing an autograph from Pepper Potts that she could either sell on eBay or give to one of the redhead's fans at Xavier's - Kat let something slip. "Actually, you're my fourth favorite armored hero."

"I… wait, what? Behind who?"

Kat looked around uncertainly before appearing to realize that yes, she had in fact been the one to open her mouth. A few seconds later, she let out a sigh as she resigned herself to being the center of attention for the immediate future, and then responded. "Miss Potts is my favorite, with Miss McCabe as a close second. Then Liberté from the European Defense Initiative, and then you're fourth."

Even as Carol Danvers nudged her neighbor repeatedly, waiting for Pepper to look up before leaning in and whispering in the redhead's ear, Tony's jaw dropped. Leaning forward as he stared at Kat in disbelief, he stretched out one hand and gestured to Kat's outfit. "Wait a second. If I'm not your favorite hero, then why are you dressed as me?"

That was something that Aberration was now curious about, especially since Heartbreaker and Iron Man looked pretty similar, but evidently Kat had an answer to that one ready. "Well, I wanted to dress up as Heartbreaker-" Pepper was definitely paying attention now, high-fiving Carol at Kat's admission. "-but when I posted my design ideas online, people thought they were your Silver Centurion armor." Which was reasonable enough in Aberration's opinion, given they both incorporated large amounts of red and silver. "So then I thought about dressing up as War Machine, but I couldn't think of a way to make myself obviously the female War Machine instead of a Rule 63 original War Machine. And if people thought I was a Rule 63 original, then I'd run into all sorts of problems because I'd be a white person racebending a colored hero and that's a huge no-no." Ah yes, the fun known as the Social Justice Brigade. Although they weren't all bad; if it hadn't been for their overuse of the phrase 'cis het white girl' when she posted about her life problems, she might not have ever overcome her discomfort with the idea of taking pictures of her green form. "So… I kinda settled for you because you were easy?"

"What is 'something women say to Tony the morning after'?" Halfway down the table, Betty Ross burst out laughing even as Jen Walters blushed a slightly darker shade of green for a few seconds, only to shrug it off and meet Tony's irritated look unflinchingly. "Actually, I think mine was 'one more _Futurama_ quote and I'll throw you through the wall' but… hey."

"The snu-snu joke was completely appropriate. Ye Gods, woman, you cracked my damn hips!"

"Well excuuuuuuse me. I warned you that I've broken reinforced titanium bed frames before. What part of that made having me ride you reverse cowgirl sound like a good idea?"

"Have you seen your ass?"

Well, it was nice to know that superhuman soap opera antics weren't something exclusive to Xavier's, Aberration mused. Not to mention that- "Wow. So I'm not the only one who's done that to a guy. Cool." Nicole and Bethany looked up at her in disbelief, making Aberration flush darkly as she explained. "Well, mine was more of an accidentally on purpose because we were both pretty sure it would happen because of my size, but he had a healing factor and so we knew that if it did then he could just repair himself." They kept staring up at her with wide eyes. "He seemed to enjoy it. For like, three days straight he would look over at me and give me this dopey grin and go 'I had snu-snu'."

"Hah! See!"

"Congratulations, Tony. You're as mature as a teenage boy. We knew you could do it."

Shooting another glare down the table at where the gamma-powered contingent were fist bumping, Tony muttered under his breath for a few seconds before returning his attention to Kat. "Let's get back to more important things with Miss..?"

"McKee."

"Miss McKee."

"Kat's fine."

"…Kat, then. Am I at least your favorite Avenger?" Tony's eyes bugged out as Kat shook her head. "Favorite not counting Pepper?" Another shake. "Second favorite after Pepper?" A third shake, followed by Kat raising her right hand with all the fingers extended… alongside her left hand with the index and middle fingers raised. "How the hell am I your seventh favorite? That means I'm after what, half the team?"

Kat rolled her eyes as she began ticking off points on her fingers. "It's not my fault! There are a lot of really pretty ladies on the team right now! Heartbreaker, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Mockingbird, Captain… Mar… vel…" Trailing off, the brunette lowered her hands as she realized that not only were two people on that list sitting at the table, but they were staring avidly in her direction. "Erf. Awkward."

Leaning forward to plant her elbows on the table, Carol grinned widely as she rested her chin in her hands. "Oh, please, don't mind me, Kat. This is fascinating."

Pepper nodded eagerly, holding up the tablet she'd been working on when they'd entered the room and pointing it in Kat's direction until it emitted what was distinctly the click of a camera's shutter. "I know, right? Personally, I'm feeling flattered as hell that I rank above Natasha."

"Actually…"

"Oh." Pepper slumped for a moment before rebounding and shrugging. "Actually, don't feel bad about that. I'd rank her above me too. I'm pretty sure you could bounce a five pound coin off that ass." Aberration let out a low whistle at that; clocking in at a third again the size of a half dollar and more than twice its weight, she'd be hard pressed to bounce said coin off her own butt, and it was made of pure gamma-infused muscle. Shooting a glance to her right, Pepper smirked. "Do I at least rank above Carol?" The blonde opened her mouth to reply, only to let out an indignant huff as Kat nodded. "Sweet!"

Clearing his throat loudly, Tony forced himself back into the center of the conversation. "Favorite male Avenger at least? Because I can't say I blame you for liking the pretty ladies more. I'm an awfully big fan of them myself…"

Kat cringed before jerking a thumb in Jess's direction. "…Cap but he's kinda overdone for both guys and girls so I didn't-"

"That's it." Throwing his hands up in the air, Tony slumped back in his chair. "I'm done."

With that, the rest of Aberration's group surged forward, each girl gravitating toward someone related to her costume. Or in Kat's case, making her way over to Pepper because Tony was still sulking. That seemed to open the floodgates behind her, too, and people came streaming in around Aberration on both sides to get in on the fun. She quickly noticed one commonality between her position and the autograph table, though: there was a big gap around the gamma girls. After standing around awkwardly for a few minutes, she decided to try and be polite, making her way over to Jen and Betty to consolidate the bubbles of unused space. "Um… hi?"

"You need glasses." Jen's spontaneous bit of fashion advice caught Aberration off-guard, and she found herself staring at the green-skinned woman in disbelief as Jen glanced over at Betty, looked back up at her, and then nodded decisively. "Yep. Glasses."

…okay?

Shaking her head, Betty reached up and hooked a finger in the neckline of Aberration's dress, making the girl squeak as the older woman tugged gently on it. "Please, she's too young to look even remotely good in your sexy secretary shit. Sweetie, we need to get you into something that shows some decent cleavage. Do you own any corsets? It'd help you rock everything you've got: the girls, those shoulders, that awesome ribbing on your collarbones…"

Jen let out a groan at that, reaching over and cuffing the back of Betty's head. "Until she ends up 'rocking' a bit too much and getting herself in trouble. Like when a certain someone almost had a wardrobe malfunction at Baltimore Comic-Con last month and scandalized all those parents…"

"Note the word 'almost'. I almost had a wardrobe malfunction. Which means I didn't. Which means there's nothing wrong with my corsets and when I find where you've hidden them, I'm going to burn this t-shirt." Releasing Aberration's dress, Betty leaned back in her seat before jerking her head in Jen's direction. "Since I'm pretty sure that's the same face I make whenever Jen talks about her day at work… the green meanie and I bankrolled a couple of focus groups after our first convention. To make a long story short? While they don't mind Steve and Sam, they feel kinda threatened when the girls bring the gun show."

Even as Betty raised her arms and flexed, showing off biceps that put even Aberration's to shame, Jen took up the story. "So we hired an image consultant and began experimenting with different ways to try and make ourselves seem less scary. People seem to connect glasses with being intellectual, and intellectualism with being physically unintimidating… so glasses. And nice clothes, which wasn't hard because I have to dress up to go to court most days anyway. As for Betty…"

"They can't stare at your arms if they're too busy staring at your cleavage!"

"That." Jen reached down under the table, returning a few seconds later with a white case that she held out to Aberration. "Not to be mean or anything… but I can't help but notice the very wide berth that everyone's giving you. Wanna try it out for yourself? Can't hurt, can it?"

Aberration reached out, taking the glasses case from Jen as she stared at it consideringly. On one hand? Kat and her friends were the first flatscans she'd managed to interact with for more than a minute or two in the history of ever. Most people were really freaked out by her. If something this simple could help? She'd be a fool to ignore it. On the other hand? Jen and Betty weren't exactly being inundated with autograph requests… which could have more to do with Betty's attitude today rather than glasses or lack thereof, Aberration had to concede. And it wasn't as if it would cost her anything to try. Eh. What the hell? As she opened the case, pulled out the glasses inside, and slid them onto her face, Aberration decided to vocalize a question bouncing around inside her head. "Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, you were part of the team who recaptured my father this summer and sent him back to the Cube."

"Did you break out of the Cube?"

"No?"

"Did you help Abomination break out of the Cube?"

"No!"

"Did you help him fight us when we caught up to him?"

"Obviously not."

"So then why would we hold what he does against you?" Leaning forward, Jen lowered her voice. "You would not believe how many people held what my cousin did against me when I first appeared. Didn't matter that I was completely and unmistakably not him, and that there was no way you could possibly confuse what he did with what I did. Or that I was in complete control and so you couldn't even try and paint me with the 'might go on a destructive rampage' brush like Bruce. I was green, he was green, we had the same powers, and so we were obviously cut from the same cloth. Obviously." She let out a snort. "At the end of the day? The sheeple are going to believe whatever's simple and easy. Which means it's generally not what's true. You need to decide if you're going to care about that… or what the people who are actually in the know think."

Betty nodded before likewise leaning forward so her head was next to Jen's. "If you're smart, though? You beat up some villains, find a photographer that makes you look good, make some prints of her work, and then charge the sheeple twenty bucks a pop for something you pay two and a half bucks for. Which includes the tiny bit of ink from the Sharpie you sign it with."

There was one major problem with that plan, or at least one that jumped to mind immediately for Aberration. "I'm not famous enough to sign things, though, and I'm pretty sure that the headmistresses would get upset if I started moonlighting as a non-X superhero."

"You can be our Rick Jones!" Jen reached down out of sight again, hand returning with a cell phone this time. And Aberration definitely needed to find out what kind it was and where she could get one, because it not only looked like something that could fit her hand comfortably, but it was a lot sleeker than the Galaxy Note II that she'd been eyeing during her last visit to Best Buy. "You've got your father's legs, right? Hop over the table for me; I wanted to send a picture of you to Bruce anyway to show him that something decent fell out of Emil's tree, and I can toss a copy of it up onto our fan page on Facebook. You'll be signing autographs in no time."

Flexing her powerful legs, Aberration was already in the air and halfway across the table before she realized what she was doing… the enormity of which caused her to botch her landing and slam to the floor with a crash. Hopping up, she did her best to look innocent as she smoothed her dress down. "I, uh, meant to do that."

Jen laughed as she rose from her seat, circling around to stand next to Aberration as she looped her right arm around the girl's shoulders. "Don't worry, I've failed a few gravity checks in my day. Now, while we wait for Betty to get with the program and get up off her ass-" There was a groan of unhappy metal as Betty forced herself up out of her seat, flipping Jen off as she went. "-I'm going to give you a first piece of homework. Mostly because I know that our PR woman will hit you with it the first time she meets you, so this way you can impress Mary Jean by looking prepared. She's gonna want to talk names. Mostly because 'Aberration' isn't exactly people-friendly. What do you think of maybe… Peridot? Emerald, Garnet, Peridot. We could be the Gamma Gems!"

"I… I get to think about this, right? I mean, I picked Aberration myself. I've used it for years."

"Well yeah. And we'd never make you do anything; if you want to be Aberration, you can be Aberration. Actually, I take it back. we will make you do one thing. Smile!" Jen tapped her finger against the smartphone's screen, frowned at the result, hit Retake, and then tried again. Satisfied - or at least willing to accept - the result of her second attempt, she pulled away and began typing away on her phone. "Cool. Now gimme one sec…"

Fingers tapping on her shoulder made Aberration look to her right… before realizing whose hands were where and turning to where Betty stood at her left. "So, I've gotta ask… you really rode some boy so hard that you broke his hips?" Blushing, Aberration nodded, making Betty cackle loudly. "See, this is why we need more gamma men in the world. You should be able to cut loose and enjoy yourself without worrying that you're gonna wreck the poor bastard." Leaning in, Betty nodded in Jen's direction as she lowered her voice conspiratorially. "You wanna hear an even more embarrassing story?"

Jen's ears may not have been oversized and pointed like Aberration's own, but they were evidently just as sensitive. "I will beat your ass like-"

"You beg Cain to beat yours?" Betty let out another cackle of laughter as Jen narrowed her eyes. "So, Cain Marko. The Juggernaut. You know that stupid line he loves these days? 'I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!'? Well, back when they first got together, Jen was doing a bit of topping from the bottom-"

"I swear to God, Betty-"

"-and tells poor Cain that it feels like she's fucking a human. Asks him if that's the best he can do, or if he's capable of treating her like a real man should." Unwinding her arm from around Aberration's shoulders, Betty took a step backwards as Jen let out a low growl. "Next thing she knows, he's got a fistful of hair, bellows 'Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!', and starts hammering away at her- urk!" Betty was cut off by Jen's shoulder impacting with her chest, lifting her up into the air for a few seconds before she went crashing down onto - and through - the autograph table, laughing hysterically as Jen landed on top of her. "I told you, Jen, not until after the first date! I'm not that kind of girl!"

As the rest of the Avengers rushed to intercede - or rather, the Avengers who weren't Carol rushed to intercede while the blonde cheered Jen on and took pictures with her phone - Aberration slowly circled her way back around to the attendees' side of the table. Spotting Kat nearby, she sidled up beside the brunette before nudging her gently to get her attention. "Have we had enough of the Avengers panel yet?"

"…yeah, I'm good."


	4. Chapter 4

Joe's Note: Because this site doesn't allow adult content - and I'm not one of those morons who will post it anyway and then throw a tantrum when it gets deleted - there is a 'missing scene' of sorts between Chapter 2 and Chapter 4. Given the dialogue at the end of Chapter 2, though, along with Aberration's mental monologue in Chapter 3 and Josh's thoughts here? I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happened.  
><span>Dedications &amp; Thanks:<span> To Nicholas, Alexander, Thomas, Koby, Wil, Tracy, Christopher, Mitch, and Jess for sponsoring me on Patreon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

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><p>"…so basically when Thor took over for Odin as the king of Asgard, he helped negotiate amnesty for Amora with the American government. Part of that included her opening up some of the 'secret paths' between worlds, and now there's almost unrestricted travel from Asgard and Vanaheimr to our world?"<p>

"Yes."

"And you use that… to go to comic book conventions?"

"Yep! Where else is it normal to go walking around dressed like the Allfather, his queen, or one of his chosen warriors?"

"Well, technically speaking? It's not exactly normal here on Midgard, either." Josh shot a glance over at his girlfriend - who was too busy blushing and squirming to comment - before letting his eyes make another sweep over the half-circle of 'Vanaþegnar' surrounding him and his companions. They now outnumbered his group four to three; as they'd exited the bathroom, the combined group had run into a blonde dressed as Valkyrie impatiently awaiting her fellow Asgardian cosplayers. And when they got back to the school, Josh definitely needed to check their Interplanetary Sociology textbook to see if he'd slept through a lesson or something, because he did not recognize that name at all. Or rather, he knew of them by vague description - the people who occupied Vanaheimr but who were not Vanir - but he was pretty sure he'd have remembered a name that strange if he'd heard it before. For now, though? His eyes focused on the smallest member of the group. "I can't help but notice that you're leaving someone out…"

Resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, Rakel - whose diminutive size made the manhandling she'd given her Sif-themed companion in the bathroom all more impressive - snorted loudly before offering Josh a wry smile. "I lost a bet. We decided that somebody had to be Loki because there are four of us and only four Asgardians who are well known here on Midgard-"

"Thor, Loki, Sif, Valkyrie, Amora is five…" Leaning against the wall at Josh's left, Rachel furrowed her brow as she pondered that. "Who am I counting that you're not? I guess… Amora's technically from Vanaheimr like you, which would make her a Vanaþegn and not an Asgardian? Then again, Loki's a hrímþurs and so he's not really an Asgardian either, but you're evidently counting him…"

Letting out a low whistle, Margrét opted to field that one for her girlfriend. "Wow, they teach you well at Xavier's. But yeah, if you really want to get technical? Loki and Amora aren't Asgardians. On the other hand? Valkyries are dísir and so that means we can't refer to ourselves as a group of Æsir. But no, Rakel's four doesn't include Amora. She shows up at a lot of these as a guest, and so we decided that none of us would cosplay as her so that nobody had to have their costume compared to the real thing."

Having split the duty of explaining their presence - and interrealm relations - with Sólveig, it didn't surprise Josh one whit when Lárus opted to step in and provide the answer that Rakel had been in the process of delivering when Rachel disrupted things. "Long story short? Margrét discovered these things during a visit to Midgard and started working on a Sif costume. When the rest of us found out, we wanted in. I think Brunnhilde is pretty cool for an Asgardian, so I figured out my costume pretty quickly, but Sólveig and Rakel got into an argument over who could be Thor. Rakel thought she deserved it because her girlfriend was already cosplaying as Thor's wife, while Sólveig thought she had the better build for it. They agreed that whoever could enchant the best replica of Mjölnir could be Thor. I'm sure you can guess how that ended."

Considering he'd asked Sólveig if he could examine her hammer rather than Rakel… pretty much, yeah. Sólveig had done a hell of a job with her enchanting, too; he'd nearly shit his pants after brushing a thumb over the wrong rune on the wooden handle and triggering a faux-lightning strike in the middle of the ladies' room. Speaking of the ladies' room, though… "Before things go any further, we need to talk about earlier."

The three Vanaþegnar who'd been present for Josh and Rogue's show immediately burst into giggles, making Lárus look back and forth before letting out an aggrieved sigh. "I missed something good, didn't I?"

"They were making merry sport in the bathroom! We're not the only ones who do that!" Rakel nimbly dodged left and then right to avoid Margrét's swats before grabbing her girlfriend's wrists and pulling the taller brunette's arms out away from her body, allowing Rakel to lean in and kiss her neck. "Although they're a little bit naughtier than we are, Lárus. Well, kinda. I mean, I'd ravish Margrét in the men's bathroom if I had a cute ginger to cloak our presence from the world… so maybe luckier rather than kinkier?"

Lárus raised a fine blond brow at that before looking over at Rachel. "So that's what that weird feeling was. Margrét mentioned Xavier's, so I'm guessing you're all mutants… telepathy?" The redhead-turned-blonde nodded. "If you ever try to violate my mind again, I'll strip you, drag you through a path into Jötunheimr, dump you there, and keep your pretty dress as a prize. A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend."

Much to Josh's surprise, Rachel merely smiled at the very direct threat. It wasn't until she responded, though, that he understood why. "Oh cool, a fellow _Buffy_ fan. Do you watch it around here, or is there Netflix in Vanaheimr or something?"

"Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and everything else the Internet has to offer. There's a cave system in Kentucky that's home to paths to both Asgard and Vanaheimr, and so the Allfather arranged to have them lay the cables and bring broadband to our realms. I bought myself a laptop during one of my first visits to Midgard, and now we order all sorts of interesting things off the Internet. Take turns being the one who has to wait outside the cave and sign for deliveries." At that, Margrét frowned before looking to her left and then her right at her companions. "Wait a minute. If we're all here… who's going to sign for my package from Frederick's of Hollywood?"

Groaning, Lárus brought her hands up so she could bury her face in them. "Nobody, obviously. Which means that it'll go back to the warehouse and sit there until they can make another delivery attempt on Monday." That answer made Margrét pout, and the blonde reached over to swat her brunette companion's shoulder. "You're going to be in cosplay all weekend. Why do you need fancy underwear, Margrét?"

Rakel looked across her girlfriend at Lárus, offering up the same expression that Josh used whenever Madison or Aberration said something particularly stupid. "For what happens when we get back to the hotel and I peel her out of that costume, obviously." Even as Lárus grimaced at the mental image, Rakel glanced back over her shoulder at Sólveig. "We all know she's no fun, but do you wanna join us tonight? I heard you in the bathroom… it's even more fun when it's someone else's hands. Especially if it's more than one someone."

The lack of response drew Josh's attention to Sólveig… who was blushing faintly as she stared at Rogue like she was the one piece of meat in a vegan restaurant. Which in turn made Josh grin widely; he knew from experience how men would react to the altered - and greatly increased - pheromones that Rogue was producing today, but both women and Vanaþegnar were uncharted territory for them. So far so good, though. Before the question-slash-invitation could sink in or Margrét could repeat herself in hopes of getting the blonde's attention, Josh caught sight of a very excited Madison bearing down on them… with a stranger in tow. A stranger who was rocking a very Two-Face vibe, Josh mused, her face split vertically between a soft Caucasian pink and a familiar shade of green. "Do I even want to know what you've found now, Madison?"

"Only the most awesome thing ever!" Given that Madison seemed to be in significantly better spirits than when they'd left her at the vanDynesty booth, there was the potential that she had in fact found a very awesome thing. Especially given Madison's open distaste for all things related to Jessica Drew. Pushing her way in between Rakel and Sólveig, Madison gestured to her new friend. "Guys, meet Jora'ran. Jora'ran, this is… the gold boy is Josh, the blonde is Rachel, and the blushing lady is our teacher Rogue. I don't know who the other four girls are, so obviously I can't introduce them." She paused to take a breath, giving Lárus just enough time to open her mouth and attempt an introduction before Madison pushed onward. "Okay, now try and stay with me guys. Jora'ran… is a Skrull who's cosplaying as Veranke from the day that Veranke revealed she was using Jessica Drew's form to infiltrate the Avengers."

…huh. Okay, Josh had to admit, that was a cool bit of costume inception. And because she was a Skrull, she didn't even have to worry about doing the makeup for her Veranke half. He had to wonder, though, if 'Jora'ran' was one of those Skrull who just didn't feel comfortable in any form but their native green one - making half-human as far as she was willing to go - or if she just had a quirky sense of humor. The former, there were a handful of currently attending the Academy of Tomorrow with him. The latter… was pretty much most of the people he knew. After a moment's consideration, Josh decided that the safest course of action would be to take advantage of this new distraction and focus the attention on Jora'ran. The Vanaþegnar seemed accepting enough - even jealous - of what they'd caught him doing, meaning chances were slim that they'd rat him out to anyone. That being said, he didn't need the topic coming back up for discussion and so… "Just out of curiosity, why Veranke? I can get wanting to dress up as someone famous, but she's a bit…"

"Controversial?" Thankfully Jora'ran didn't seem to take offense, offering him a shy smile before sniffing the air, shooting Rogue a long look, and then finally answering the question. "I actually cosplay as Spider-Woman most of the time and so I had the costume already from that. Problem is, I got hurt in gym a few days ago and so it hurts like a bitch to shift the left side of my rib cage. It's easier to hold a partial transformation like this than it is to change everything but that one area, so… Spider-Veranke cosplay."

Controversial was a very polite way to refer to Veranke, Josh thought with a snort. On one hand, she had been the driving force behind the planning and execution of the Oasis Sentient Commune in Nevada, while simultaneously championing the passage of legislation that granted citizenship to non-_Homo sapiens_ residents of America. On the other hand, though? She had only done so after her failed invasion had left her particular faction of the Skrull Empire a shattered and homeless remnant of its former self. Then again, Josh mused, did he have any room to talk when it came to Jora'ran and her choice of idols when he was willing to admit that he had admiration enough for Magneto? A man who'd spent most of his adult life as the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants and resting atop nearly every country's most wanted list… before finally seeing the error of his ways and retiring to Genosha with Professor Xavier?

…which was something he really didn't want to think too closely about, really. Now or ever.

But as delightful as this little diversion was, it was just that: a diversion. There was an entire convention full of interesting things to see, and plenty more people to expose to Rogue's pheromones before heading back to the suite for their evening's entertainment. Jora'ran would presumably be coming with them, or at least he assumed that was the intention behind bringing her over to meet them; Josh somehow doubted that Madison's intentions were something as benign as 'hey, come with me so I can show you off to my friends and then go away'. The Vanaþegnar, on the other hand, needed to either be absorbed into their group or cut loose so they could move on. With how Sólveig was looking at Rogue, Josh was hoping for the former… but if it was the latter, he could always direct them Aberration's way. Their group already had a Thor, but he was pretty sure that they'd tolerate a duplicate in exchange for a Sif, a Valkyrie, and a Loki. "Listen, I'm not sure how much longer we can get away with holding up a wall outside the women's room before security shows up and tells us to move along. I remember Margrét mentioning that nobody in your group cosplays Amora because she tends to show up at conventions. That's actually where we're headed now; she's here to promote her newest movie. Any chance you ladies want to tag along?"

Sólveig nodded eagerly, her eyes still locked on Rogue. She opened her mouth to say something… only to be cut off by a voice from over Josh's head. "Psst. Hey. Can I tag along too?" Craning his neck, Josh stared up at a girl in a very stylized rendition of an iconic red and blue costume that only people raised in caves on Mars wouldn't recognize, her long blonde hair streaming downward like a comet's tail as she clung to the wall above them. "I've been up here eavesdropping for a bit and you all seem pretty cool. Except for the brunette with the huge rack, but that's mostly because she hasn't said anything yet so I have no idea if she's cool or not."

This time, it was Josh's turn to be cut off in a reply as Jora'ran tossed in her two cents. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a rule against using transportation powers at the convention? Because if I am wrong? Walking is for chumps. I'm flying for the rest of the day." Next to her, Madison nodded eagerly even as her body glowed a faint yellow and shed an inch or two in height, a quartet of diaphanous insect wings emerging from her back. Josh raised an eyebrow at that: first she approached her mother of her own free will, and now Madison was willingly using her powers? Weren't those signs of the apocalypse? And… wait, 'transportation powers' were against the rules? How had Madison gotten past the guard at the top of that first escalator without getting in trouble? And probably others; she'd been moving through the crowd toward her mother's booth awfully fast for someone her size…

The wall-crawler looked around before offering a Gallic shrug. "My mom always told me that you're not actually breaking the rules until they catch you."

"Hey!" The loud bellow sent the entire area's attention bouncing back and forth between the girl - and Josh's group by extension - and the beefy security guard who was pointing her way. "Get off that wall!"

"…me and my big mouth." Flipping forward, the girl landed neatly on her feet in the middle of the group before spinning to face Jora'ran, forcing Josh to dodge to the right to avoid being slapped in the face with her hair. "The name's Mayday. Mayday Parker. Any chance you cosplay as Julia too? Because not only would that match up well with the Rule 63 Black Spider-Man costume I brought for tomorrow, but her costume isn't totally ridiculous looking."

Even as Madison muttered things that sounded decidedly uncomplimentary under her breath, tugging angrily at the front of the black and yellow dress she'd been saddled with by her mother, Jora'ran raised an eyebrow and looked Mayday up and down slowly. "You of all people want to talk about ridiculous-looking costumes?"

Glancing down at her own outfit, Mayday just shrugged. "I'm only wearing this as an homage to my old man. My actual costume is a whole lot cooler than this. What's your excuse?"

"I like Jessica Drew? And Veranke?"

"Who have horrible fashion sense."

"So does your dad."

"Yes, and at least I'm honest about that."

"Well what am I supposed to do? Half-Skrull Julia Carpenter would make no sense at all!"

"I saw a svartálfr dressed as my mom wandering around a little while ago. If we can have Dark Elf Black Cat, why not Skrull Arachne?"

"Because I like Jessica Drew?"

"Who has horrible fashion sense!"

As the pair of spider-themed girls continued to argue over their costumes, inching closer and closer together with each exchange, the click of a camera's shutter drew Josh's attention to his right. Grinning at him, Rogue showed off the picture she'd taken with her iPhone before opening up Instagram and going to work. "It's not the kind of thing you usually have me post, but I can't help it. Mostly because of the 'what is this, I don't even know' factor of it all."

Looking back over at Mayday and Jora'ran, Josh raised an eyebrow. It was two busty chicks in superhero attire with their chests pressed against each other. Technically speaking, it wasn't that far removed from most of what was on Rogue's Instagram account…


	5. Chapter 5

Joe's Note: This chapter is mostly for people who are familiar with Lexi's larger universe and Amazon Squad from that, and were wondering where Maki wandered off to. Or if you caught the one line reference to her way back in Chapter 1 and wondered who the hell Josh was talking about. At any rate… Maki. Enjoy.  
><span>Dedications &amp; Thanks:<span> To Nicholas, Alexander, Thomas, Koby, Wil, Tracy, Christopher, Mitch, and Jess for sponsoring me on Patreon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

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><p>"I, um, don't know what to say. This has never happened to me before."<p>

"It's okay. It happens to a lot of people."

"I guess. I just…"

"Do you want to wait half an hour, maybe? Try it again?"

"I don't know. We had a mood going and now it's ruined."

Rolling her eyes, Maki released her grasp on her powers and let the artistically swirling tendrils of steam surrounding her naked body dissipate, giving her a better view of her companion. "Well whose fault is that, Miss Image Inducer? I mean, I can get that it's distracting to try and work while your suit is repairing itself and the holodisguise is flickering on and off, but why did you even wear it?" There was a soft splash as her left hand came up out of the tub, and then the Lemurian trailed her fingers along her pointed ear for emphasis. "Did you honestly think that I of all people would care about the fact that you're blue?"

"Holy anthropocentric dickery, Batman. Does it ever occur to people that me using an image inducer has nothing to do with what they want to see and everything with what I want to see?" Backing away from the oversized tub that had been the centerpiece of their photo shoot, Tabitha Haney - if that was even her name, which Maki doubted it was on account of actually being a Kree and all - set her camera down on the vanity before turning back around to face the Lemurian and hopping up onto the stretch of white marble beside the sink. Narrowing her eyes, Tabitha gestured down at her body with her currently mismatched arms: one a soft Caucasian pink and the other wrapped in white Kree power suit armor save for her tetradactyl blue hand. "I don't wear this scout suit for you, or anyone else. I wear it for me. I spent hours painstakingly programming in a disguise that I really liked… for me. I'm not ashamed of who I am or anything, but at the same time? Sometimes you just wanna be part of the herd, instead of the person the herd is inviting to come hang out with them. You know?"

Not really, no. Hence her being blue all the time. Letting her head lean back so it was resting on the edge of the tub, Maki stared up at the ceiling as she rolled that one around in her head. To be honest, it wasn't the sort of thing she'd thought about in the past. Which was a bit weird, she mused, considering there were a number of students - and at least two instructors - at the Academy of Tomorrow who made use of image inducers to varying degrees. On the other hand? This wasn't exactly something she wanted to be sitting around pondering while she was paying two hundred dollars an hour for a photographer's services. Craning her neck, she met Tabitha's gaze again and raised an eyebrow challengingly. "Well then maybe next time the herd shouldn't slam herself into her light stand hard enough to knock out one of her holoemitters, hmm?"

Tabitha muttered something under her breath before flipping Maki off, a gesture that looked subtly off thanks to her missing - at least by Maki's reckoning - finger. The motion seemed to remind the Kree of her predicament, the girl staring at her revealed blue skin for a moment before growling lowly and throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "You know what? Whatever. Just let me pack up all my stuff and I'll be out of your hair. I'll go sit in that little niche with the ice machine until my suit finishes its repairs and I can go back outside again. I should have enough in my PayPal to be able to refund your money by the end of the day and-"

"Or you can learn how to take a little teasing, undo the calamity that is your mammaries, and not cost yourself a four hundred dollar job."

"…undo the calamity…"

"That is your mammaries. It's a fancy way of saying 'calm your tits'. I found it on Tumblr and thought it was funny." Calling on her cryokinetic abilities this time, Maki dramatically lowered the temperature of the water filling the tub. Guiding the water as it froze and expanded, she used it to raise herself up until she was seated on a rough throne made of ice. "It's not important. What is important here is that I'm not the one throwing you out here. You are. And you can do that if you want, at which point I will be asking for my money back. Which - might I add - I currently am not. Or you can stay here, relax, maybe we can order some room service… and if you feel better after some noms and your holodisguise coming back online, we can take another shot at this photo shoot thing?" Crossing her arms over her bare chest, Maki tilted her head to one side curiously as she stared at Tabitha. "What's it going to be? And… is your name actually Tabitha or is it something more Kree-y?"

Shaking her head slowly, Tabitha stared at Maki in disbelief. "It's Talla-Ra. I was worried about messing up and not responding when someone called my name, so I looked for a human name that was close to my Kree one and Tabitha was the best I could do. Haney was the last name of this really annoying girl at the Oasis, and so I stole it for my human identity because I figured the chances of me being near her by choice were somewhere between 'slim' and 'none'."

"Ah. Makes sense."

"Yeah." Talla-Ra continued to stare at Maki for several more seconds before breaking down and gesturing to the blue-skinned girl's midsection. "You are buck naked and sitting on a throne of ice. Throne. Of. Ice. How are you not freezing to death right now?"

Maki shrugged before rising to her feet, sending a pulse of superheated air out of the bare skin of her back to melt the ice as she carefully stepped out of the tub onto the tiled floor. "I could claim it's because of all the time I've spent training with Professor Drake, but… well, the cold never bothered me anyway." Continued careful manipulation of her pyrokinetic abilities dried both her skin and hair in short order as she made her way over to stand beside Talla-Ra, picking up her hairbrush and going to work. "So. Are you leaving or are you staying?"

Sliding off of the counter, Talla-Ra met Maki's gaze in the mirror for a second or two before looking away and snatching up her camera, staring down at it as she fiddled with it. "I haven't eaten yet today. I guess room service for lunch doesn't sound like too terrible of an idea. Unless… this isn't going to turn into you gnawing on an entire raw fish or something, is it?" Pausing in her ministrations, Maki turned to stare at the Kree in disbelief, who shrugged before raising her hands defensively. "What? We have some Lemurians and Atlanteans at the Oasis, but it's not like I hang out with them or anything. Mostly because they prefer the water and I can barely swim. This is the first time I've actually met one of you face-to-face and so I have no idea what your people eat."

A roll of her eyes later, Maki went back to brushing her hair. "Food. We're omnivores just like most of the other sentients on Earth, not piscivores. Not that I'd turn down some sushi if you were in the mood to have some place deliver, but I can eat pretty much anything. Except for Hot Pockets. Probably because I'm not blue trash. I mean, who came up with those things? Did someone seriously sit down some day and say 'How about we fill a Pop-Tart with nasty meat? And you can cook it in a sleeve thing.' or something?"

"What's wrong with Hot Pockets? I like Hot Pockets."

"By any chance do you also like NASCAR?"

"…yes. Why?"

Maki snickered softly as she set her brush down, bringing her hand up to her mouth and making a fist before coughing into it. "Blue trash." Ignoring Talla-Ra's renewed grumbling, she cuffed the Kree's shoulder lightly as she brushed past the girl and exited the bathroom, making her way across the expansive hotel room that she was theoretically sharing with Aberration for the weekend. Theoretically because the gamma-powered girl was capable of going long stretches without sleep, meaning she'd probably spend the better part of their long weekend wandering the Big Apple while she had the chance. Which was perfectly fine with Maki, given that they would have otherwise been forced to share a California King bed and she really didn't sleep well when being turned into a scaly green girl's little spoon. A downward blast of heated air launched her up and onto the mattress, and she pirouetted before flopping backward onto the comforter. Propping herself up on her elbows, she grinned widely. "We're at a hotel in New York City, and I have a platinum card. What kind of stupidly expensive room service is calling your name? A market price lobster dinner? Chunk of pampered Japanese cow? Burger made of pampered Japanese cow? Enough sushi to make a dolphin puke?"

Her eyes dipped south several times as her options were listed off, but Talla-Ra by and large managed to keep her gaze fixed on the headboard of the bed. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we skipping a very obvious first step here? Namely getting dressed? All of those ideas rely on someone bringing us food, and I can't help but notice you're a little under the clothed at the moment."

"I was hoping you'd be a bit more enlightened when you agreed to take the pictures of me in the tub, but… ugh. Prude. Do I have to? I mean, I'm pretty sure that I can operate my phone while naked. As a matter of fact, I know I can. I've seen me do it." Maki still didn't get what the surface world's obsession with clothing was. Or, more specifically, why they were obsessed with its necessity. Her people had it right, she mused, in that any clothing beyond what was immediately necessary for survival was an accessory meant for showing off what one could make, find, barter for, or buy. Ornamentation in the same way as jewelry, in essence, and nothing more. Then a wicked thought danced through her mind, and Maki sat up a bit straighter. While there were something like a dozen Kree currently attending the Academy of Tomorrow with her, they were all casual acquaintances at best… and she'd always been curious about the similarities and differences between herself and Earth's third most prominent blue species. "I bet you can use a phone naked too. And when I say bet, I mean that in a literal sense. I am willing to bet a complete second session fee - another four hundred dollars - that you won't lose that scout suit of yours while we eat lunch."

That just earned her a snort from Talla-Ra. "That's a pretty safe bet, yeah. Or have you already forgotten my entire 'part of the herd', 'I do this for me' speech?" No. No she hadn't. But considering that four hundred dollars was like, one three-hundreth of what she could get from an aquarium for bringing a coelacanth back to the surface after her next visit home? It was worth a try in her book. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that rot. The longer she stared challengingly at Talla-Ra, the more flustered the older girl got. "No. Even if I was that kind of person - which I'm not - I certainly wouldn't do it for a sixteen-year-old girl. I'm pretty sure that's illegal. Now, are you going to-"

"Another eight hundred."

"-feed… what? Are you serious?" Talla-Ra's jaw dropped as Maki nodded slowly. She eyed the Lemurian uncertainly for several seconds before recovering and crossing her arms over her chest defensively, her 'naked' arm hidden from sight beneath her human arm. "I… why? What is your obsession with this all of a sudden? Is this some strange sort of Lemurian courtship thing? Strip me down to see if I measure up so you can decide whether or not to take things to whatever the next stage is? Because I may like girls, but I'm not tapping underage ass. Sixteen will get me twenty here in New York."

Maki screwed up her face in disgust at the mental image. "Thanks but no thanks, Captain Transference. You're looking for… pretty much every other member of my squad. At least as far as the whole 'liking girls' thing goes; they're all underage except for Rogue, so they wouldn't pass that part of the test." Not that there was anything wrong with liking girls, per se. It just wasn't for her. Or hopefully Megan either, because the absolute last thing that Maki needed was her pint-sized shadow deciding that she enjoyed following Maki around for the view. "No, it's more that your whole 'part of the herd' thing… it's bull. The herd these days is every damn color of the rainbow. Skrull, Kree, Shi'ar, Levians, Centaurans, Atlanteans, Lemurians. Mutants come in every color, and Majesdanians are literally every color. And I'm probably forgetting a few more kinds of Interstellar-Americans because I've never visited Oasis and don't really pay attention in Sociology. But at the end of the day? The truth here is that you're a self-hating blue girl. And it bugs me. So yeah, I'm thinking that I'm going to sit here exploiting the fact that you're poor as fuck and desperate for money to try and slap some sense into you."

After staring at Maki for a few more seconds, Talla-Ra turned away and made her way across the room, disappearing back into the bathroom. She emerged several minutes later with her large black bag of lighting gear hovering along behind her. Huh. Well, that explained how a girl almost as short as she was could move aa bag that heavy with the ease the Kree had demonstrated, Maki mused. Waving her hand, Talla-Ra directed her belongings over toward the room's desk, waiting until they'd settled to the floor before returning her attention to Maki. "And you don't think I'll turn and walk out the door… why exactly?"

"Because if you're smart, you'll lie through your teeth and exploit the spend-happy bipolar mergirl who can pay for your last two years of ESU without batting an eyelash. If you're really smart, though, you'll actually take me seriously and maybe walk away from this a better person on top of being debt-free. It's up to you." Then a new idea came to Maki: an inversion of how the Academy had handled her disdain for being 'properly' attired. Going from the almost complete coverage of her scout suit - even if the holodisguise was a non-issue - to nudity all at once was asking a bit much. She needed to try baby steps. Get the holodisguise down, but replace it with something that Talla-Ra would be somewhat comfortable in. And, Maki realized, conceding the battle over her own state of dress might help too. It was obviously aggravating the Kree, and aggravated people were less cooperative people as a rule. "Okay, here's the final offer: I'll pull on some pajamas, and then you get a thousand bucks if you reprogram your suit to project an image of your real self wearing whatever you usually wear to bed. We can hang out, get some food, watch a movie or two… it'll be like a sleepover."

Talla-Ra reached down, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and poking at it for a few seconds before frowning. "Small problem: I do have three other shoots to do today."

Rolling over… and then over and over and over a fourth time until she reached the edge of the mattress, Maki managed to exit the bed in a semi-graceful manner before wandering over to where her suitcase was resting against the wall next to the dresser that the hotel provided but she doubted was ever used. "Solution: make a post on your Page explaining that you're terribly sorry but you've been kidnapped by one of your clients and have to cancel the rest of your shoots today. I'll give you money for the refunds." Hmm. Yummy sushi pajamas or her Hall of Armor ones? One had cartoon versions of every armor that Iron Man had ever worn. The other had fish. Yummy sushi it was.

Silence reigned as Maki redressed, broken only by the soft whispers of cloth against her skin and an occasional mutter from Talla-Ra. When she was finished, the Lemurian turned around and was met by a disbelieving stare on Talla-Ra's part. "Fish pajamas. You're so weird. And fine. I guess. But if I lose business over this, you're buying up my empty slots at future cons even if you're not coming."

"No, I'm eccentric. I have too much money to be weird. And deal." Maki grinned as Talla-Ra eyed her for a moment longer before tapping at her left wrist with her other hand, causing her holodisguise to disappear entirely. Another tap followed by a two-fingered swipe generated a set of holographic controls hovering in midair over her arm, which the Kree began manipulating at a rapid pace, sending dizzying patterns of light swirling over her body. Not wanting to derail things by puking all over Talla-Ra's boots, Maki busied herself with retrieving her phone from the pocket of the pants she'd been wearing when Talla-Ra arrived, opening up the Grub Hub app. "So, what are you in the mood for? And do you have anything against eating on camera?"

"Not sure and… I don't think so? I've never done it, but the idea doesn't freak me out. Why?"

"I was thinking of digging out my laptop and Skyping with someone back at the school. He's got a food fetish and a Kree fetish, so getting to watch you eat would be sorta win-win for him."

"…a Kree fetish? Is that even a thing?"

"I know, it surprised me too."


End file.
